The way I feel... in someone else's words

http://www.xanga.com/pngpianist/577845149/i-miss-png.html



Mandy, thank you for writing this. I have read it half a dozen times now, and I feel like I am back there each time I read it. The pain never does go away for me. I stuff it back into a corner of my life most of the time, so I can get by in this 'new' place (even though I've been back almost six years now), but it's always there. Whenever I get lonely, whenever I sit by myself somewhere quiet and think, it all comes rushing back. For those few minutes I am back in Ukarumpa, Goroka, Madang. Back with people I knew and trusted, back walking the familiar roads, riding along the ridge, walking through Madang at night stopping and talking with people we knew. Back at the Bird in Goroka for the day, enjoying the pool, buying old shilling coins at the market. Back at the Teen Center for a swing dance, for Soul Purpose, for Banquet, for basketball on Wednesdays, and hamburgers on Fridays. Back at Jais Aben, diving the wrecks, or Pig Island. Back at Gusap airfield, walking through the wreckage of old warplanes, finding spent casings and bomb shells. Back in Port Moresby staying at Mapang for the night on my way to somewhere else, sitting on the porch in the hot evenings swatting mosquitos. Back at Lae International, playing with the band there, staying at the Guesthouse for a class retreat...

Thank you.

Wierd...

I think I just had the longest phone conversation of my life... I just got off the phone with my brother and looked at the phone and it said I'd been talking for 55 minutes. I'm pretty sure I've never even had a 30 minute conversation on a phone before.

I spent most of today and yesterday and Friday over at Jake's working on his bathroom and kitchen. Hopefully we'll be done enough by the end of tomorrow that he can finish the last few things himself. I have some work I wanted to get done here this weekend, too, but I guess it'll wait another week to get done.

Four-off

So this is my nice four-day weekend, except that I'm still going in to work tonight... sigh... I have part of my SRO qual that I have been trying to get the last few days, but plant conditions didn't support it. I was up last night until about 2:00AM trying to get it, and finally went to bed. So tonight I called in to work to see if they were going to do it, and they said if I was there at 11:30 I should be able to get it. My qual date is before the next shutdown, and since this is a shutdown qualification, I need to get it done now.

I spent the afternoon over at Jake's house laying tile in his bathroom, and getting his kitchen ready so we can lay tile in there tomorrow. My bathroom is almost done. One more coat of paint should do it, I think.

The weather man says it might snow tonight. It was almost 60 degrees here during the day, but somehow it's supposed to get below freezing tonight. On Wednesday it was almost 70, which was nice. I wish it would just stay warm for a while.

In other news, it looks like Ukarumpa just got its own power station. I guess Yonki has been getting worse about keeping the lights on. There's an article about it here

hmm...

OK. So it's below freezing outside right now. Not by much, but way more than enough. What happened, South Carolina??? Where did all my warm weather go? I had on three layers of clothes this morning just to walk out to my truck, and I was still freezing. So maybe I'm spoiled... but this cold weather has got to go. Now.

Work is... well, work-ish, I guess. We're in the 07-1 shutdown now, so with no Tiger Team this time things are sort of boring. The SRO quals are going well... I would explain in more detail, but I don't think anyone would know what I'm talking about anyway, so I won't. Suffice it to say I had a SRW U/I this morning which was an eye-opener... but fun. I should be qualified in another two weeks or so if I can get my comp and board scheduled in time.

I picked up the paper work for my STA-21 program this afternoon. Now I just have to collect all the required documentation and such, take the ACT (again... it's been, I think 6 years since I took that last) and come up with good reasons why I want to be an officer for my CO's interview and the three-officer board I have to do. What a lot of work. I think I'm going to dig up a lot of my paperwork from my application to USNA during my senior year and re-use some of that. :)

umm... hmm... I just finished my homework for tonight. Actually, it was due yesterday afternoon, but I was working, and then I fell asleep when I got home. I'm almost finished with my Java class, and Calc 1 just started. Calc was hard to get started into again, but I'm starting to remember some of the stuff now.

I think that's all

Random picture

An awesome picture that Dad took at the beach at Sullivan's Island a few weeks ago.

One reason I love SC

It's 73 degrees outside right now, the grass is starting to turn green again, and flowers are popping up in the back yard. And it's the middle of January!

Three more days of work this week. The 07-1 shutdown starts next week, but this time I won't be going to Tiger Team. I tried to go, but they wanted to send another electrician from our crew so he can get the experience. In some ways it will be nice, because the shutdown watchbill doesn't need as many people to support it, so it means a little more time off for me. I'll be busy with my Shutdown Reactor Operator qual, though.

The family is leaving for Cameroon in a couple of weeks. I wish I could go, too. I am getting restless again, and want to see someplace new. I still don't feel like I completely fit in with Americans. It's not a bad thing... I don't think I really want to ever be as complacent and oblivious as so many people in this country are.

I'm off to enjoy the sunshine for a little bit more before I have to head in to work for the day.